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Macao, The Ultimate Event Destination

Erdogan snares an ancient port on the Red Sea – with funds from Qatar?

By Sami Moubayed

Turkish president strikes a deal with Sudan to develop the historic port island of Suakin, raising suspicion that Qatari funds have been used to secure a base close to the port of Jeddah; Egypt is not happy about the deal either

Business oil

Disruption in Iran oil would bring ‘significant’ price rise

By Asia Times staff

Crude oil prices could rise as a result of the wave of anti-government protests in Iran. Any disruption in oil supply through the Persian Gulf could push up oil, which was trading around US$62-a-barrel  on the Nymex futures market on Thursday. Talking on CNBC's Squawk Box program, Uwe...

China Economy

Defying gravity means solving China’s economic puzzle

By Gordon Watts

Dealing with the aftershocks of becoming an industrial power, such as pollution, overproduction and rural rejuvenation, will take careful handling

Southeast Asia war

Revolutionary monument to CIA’s fall in Laos

By John McBeth

The North Vietnam Army's surprise attack on Air America's Phou Pha Thi radar station will be memorialized on the pivotal assault's 50th anniversary

Business Economy

Manufacturing activity expansion keeps China on a roll

By Robert L. Anderson

Southeast Asia Politics

Thailand: will they stay or will they go?

By Shawn W. Crispin

Thai history has not been kind to military leaders who overstay their welcome

Middle East Israel Analysis

Israel’s diplomacy snatches defeat from the jaws of victory

By Shaiel Ben-Ephraim

Israel may be a military giant, but it is a diplomatic minnow. The diplomatic corps representing it is engaged in a seemingly perpetual losing battle. The Hebrew word for "public diplomacy" is hasbara, which can be loosely translated as "explanation." This gives some idea...

Business Banking

China tightens grip on overseas ATM withdrawals

By Robert L. Anderson

Southeast Asia security

China advances, US retreats in SEAsia

By Richard Javad Heydarian

2017 may have heralded the beginning of a new Sino-centric regional order

Business Property

Asian builders aim to sustain sky-high growth

By Alan Boyd

Returns on Asia's top real estate investment trust index are on pace to exceed 30% in 2017. Will 2018 be as kind to regional property developers?

Chinese developers pump up Singapore property

By Nile Bowie

Asia Times mobile app

Asia Times launches app for iOS and Android

By Asia Times staff

Greater China

Northeast Asia Taiwan

China would ‘pay a very high price’ if it invades, Taiwan warns

By Daniel Hurst

A senior Taiwanese minister has declared that China would “pay a very very high price” if it invaded Taiwan. Chang Hsiao-Yueh, Taiwan’s mainland affairs minister, also called on the United States not to use the self-governed island as a bargaining chip in negotiations with China. The comments come amid a flare-up in tensions over the possibility of the US restarting naval visits to ports in Taiwan. Chinese diplomat Li Kexin recently warned that the day...

China Business

China’s central bank ramps up digital payment security

By Asia Times staff

Security will be beefed up to combat private data leaks and attacks from hackers on China’s booming barcode payment system. Known as quick response or QR coding, this allows consumers to make an instant payment from their bank accounts by using their smartphones. To make a...

Northeast Asia China Opinion

Only unified international action can stop China’s expansion

By Robert E. McCoy

Beijing is relentless in its pursuit of territory that it feels once was a part of the Middle Kingdom. A lack of coordination in resisting this irredentist activity is having consequences, for ignoring it merely delays – and worsens – the problem. For example,...

Northeast Asia Defense rivalry

The year air power in Asia took off

By Todd Crowell

It was mostly quiet on the maritime front in the East and South China Sea in 2017. Not so in the air, where parties to the region’s many conflicts sought to intimidate each other through displays of air power. On December 17 the Chinese air...

China adds an ‘enormous dragon’ to its military arsenal

By Robert L. Anderson

Culture Sharing economy

Bike-sharing shambles more than a bump in the road

By Gordon Watts

Hit by a proverbial flat tire, the industry has been left deflated after the Chinese craze descended into parking chaos, traffic turmoil and safety fears

Culture Ivory trade

China’s ban on ivory ‘will greatly reduce elephant poaching’

By Asia Times staff

Economy oil

China plans to break petrodollar stranglehold

By Pepe Escobar

Petrodollars have dominated the global energy markets for more than 40 years. But now, China is looking to change that by replacing the word dollars for yuan. Nations, of course, have tried this before since the system was set up by former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in tandem with the House of Saud back in 1974 Vast populations across the Middle East and Northern Africa quickly felt the consequences when Iraq’s Saddam Hussein decided to...

China Economy

Annual economic meeting embraces Xi Jinping Thought

By Jeff Pao

The Communist Party of China ended a three-day Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing on Wednesday with a call to continue to develop the economy with “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.” According to a Xinhua report, the annual...

Beijing unveils eight economic aims for 2018

By Jeff Pao

China needs to watch out for economic headwinds

By Asia Times staff

Syria reconstruction

Chinese companies poised to help rebuild war-torn Syria

By Robert W Anderson

More than 30 firms have visited the country this year as Beijing expands its new Silk Road web across the Middle East

Analysis Economy

China shows its green roots on dusty road to contradictions

By Pepe Escobar

Modern China has been built on a series of “contradictions.” At last month’s 19th National Congress of the Communist Party, the Beijing administration identified a new “principal contradiction” which, in the framework of Sinicized Marxism, defines each period of the Middle Kingdom’s fast-evolving social development. Every...

China’s ‘New Economy’ bolsters employment market

By Asia Times staff

Hawkish speech gets Bannon under Beijing’s skin

By Frank Chen

Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Unions march to protest job agency malpractices

By Asia Times staff

Labor organizations demanded that the Hong Kong government and source countries crack down on exploitation of migrant workers

Singapore

Maid jailed for pouring boiling oil on ‘devil’s son’

By Asia Times staff

Indonesian domestic worker also hit her employer's teenage son (who had attacked her and pulled her hair) with a hot frying pan, and was sentenced to 12 months in jail

Hong Kong

WW II mortar bomb found on stream bed in Ma On Shan

By Asia Times staff

The bomb was detonated safely by experts from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau

Hong Kong

Hong Kong, mainland extend human smuggling crackdown

By Asia Times staff

The joint operation netted 67,000 illegal migrants and illegal workers from Southeast Asian countries in Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan provinces

Culture Sport

How Tibet protests derailed Chinese-German football romance

By Martin Mulcahey

China Culture

China's 'leftover' women infuriated by leftover attitudes

By Gordon Watts

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia Religion

Reimagining women’s rights in Islam

By Muhammad Cohen

Marina Mahathir, the daughter of a former Malaysian prime minister, has championed a reinterpretation of the Koran's passages on women

Southeast Asia Banking

Philippines economy is in a ‘Goldilocks situation’

By Louie Puyat

Diwa Guinigundo is not your typical banker. The deputy governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines, or Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), crackles with optimism when he talks about the country's finances. Interviewed by Asia Times in his BSP office on the state of...

Southeast Asia Politics

From hope to despair in Myanmar

By Bertil Lintner

While many expected democracy to bring peace and prosperity, elected governance has only deepened entrenched problems

Southeast Asia Politics

Why Filipinos love Duterte

By Jason Castaneda

2017 was by all accounts a bad year for Philippine democracy, but Filipinos smitten with strongman rule don't seem to care

Southeast Asia Politics

How democracy died in Cambodia

By David Hutt

The Cambodia National Rescue Party’s (CNRP) demise was in retrospect a foregone conclusion. But the future shape of Cambodia’s politics is still undecided with what will be widely perceived as rigged elections and a possible dynastic political succession in the year ahead. The nation’s only viable...

Southeast Asia Politics

Recalling Singapore’s forgotten unions

By Kirsten Han

Southeast Asia Politics

Palestine as political hobbyhorse in Malaysia

By Nile Bowie

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak addressed friend and foe alike at a recent mass demonstration in support of Palestine held in Putrajaya, the country's administrative capital. The rally followed weeks of protests across various major international cities in response to US President Donald Trump's decision...

Indonesia shows solidarity for Palestinian cause

By Erin Cook

Economy development

Indonesia’s mega fast-rail project runs into trouble

By John McBeth

The $5.9bn Jakarta-Bandung link has been plagued by problems to the frustration of its Chinese consortium partners

Northeast Asia

Culture South Korea

‘Kim Jong-un’ creates a stir on the streets of Seoul

By Asia Times

Northeast Asia North Korea

Report claims North Korea preparing anthrax warheads

By Andrew Salmon

Experts raise doubts, but South Korean presidency taking measures to vaccinate against potential terrorist attacks

S. Korea, Japan had best stock up on antibiotics to treat anthrax

By Stephen Bryen

South Korea Comfort Women

Probe casts shadow over ‘comfort women’ deal

By Andrew Salmon

An independent task force established to investigate the December 2015 “final and irreversible” deal reached between South Korea and Japan on the contentious issue of wartime “comfort women” reported problems in the pre-deal process, possibly paving the way for Seoul to demand a renegotiation...

North Korea sanctions

US turns screws on North Korea after UN move

By Robert L. Anderson

Washington imposes sanctions on two high-ranking officials involved in nuclear missile program

Northeast Asia Japan

As global power shifts, Japan mulls new alliances and weapons

By Doug Tsuruoka

Japan and the United Kingdom fought ferocious naval battles in World War II, but bygones are bygones: The two island democracies are planning joint naval exercises next year. The proposed maneuvers – the first by the two navies since World War I – are part...

defense Japan Korea

Tokyo, Seoul attentive yet restrained as Trump proposes weapons sales

By Peter J. Brown

Deals with US defense contractors are expensive and highly sensitive with regional rivals; but they could be limited to niche capabilities due to local limitations and a range of technical problems

Opinion Military

US accidents on Okinawa open old wounds

By Grant Newsham

A cockpit window fell from a United States Marine CH-53 helicopter shortly after taking off from Futenma Air Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa last week.  The window landed in a schoolyard. Thankfully, it did not hit any children. Such incidents are unfortunate, but happen inevitably in the course of aviation operations, both civilian and military. On Okinawa, a hotbed of cultural clashes between US servicemen and local civilians, this kind of reality is often...

Northeast Asia South Korea

President Moon’s China state visit spirals into PR disaster

By Andrew Salmon

OpinionDrama queen Song takes on new role as ravishing diplomat

By Ben Kwok

Business Japan

Western pot calls Japanese kettle black on quality control

By Doug Tsuruoka

Horse meat consumed as beef. Subcompact cars, marketed as runabouts for coeds, whose gas tanks exploded like Roman candles in rear-end collisions. And a cocky company that caused one of history’s worst oil spills. Scanning headlines in the West, you might think these were stories about Nissan Motor, Kobe Steel, Takata Corp....

South Asia

South Asia Politics

Pakistan’s political weather? Prospects poor for moderates

By FM Shakil

The country faces a general election in July with extremists poised to gain ground

Middle East 2018

As guns fall silent, Russia to shape Syria’s political endgame

By Sami Moubayed

Many analysts predict that the upcoming year will witness a phased end to the Syrian conflict — at least, militarily. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 85% of Syrian territory has been liberated from ISIS and other groups that had controlled entire cities...

South Asia China

Beijing complicates Washington’s Afghan strategy

By MK Bhadrakumar

A trilateral dialogue has 'reaffirmed a commitment' to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan

The Afghan war: Trump and Putin battle for Uzbek support

By MK Bhadrakumar

ISIS numbers growing fast near China’s New Silk Road, says Russia

By Asia Times staff

South Asia Sri Lanka Opinion

Sri Lanka the latest victim of China’s
debt-trap diplomacy

By Brahma Chellaney

This month, Sri Lanka, unable to pay the onerous debt to China it has accumulated, formally handed over its strategically located Hambantota port to the Asian giant. It was a major acquisition for China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – which President Xi Jinping calls the “project of the century” – and proof of just how effective China’s debt-trap diplomacy can be. Unlike International Monetary Fund and World Bank lending, Chinese loans are collateralized by...

India Judiciary

Acquittals in 2G court case trigger seismic fallout

By Alam Srinivas

The $39.3bn 2G scam that crushed Dr Manmohan Singh's government and helped Narendra Modi to an historic victory has been thrown out by a New Delhi court

India Business

Builder L&T’s former boss Naik takes liberties with the facts

By Alam Srinivas

India Opinion

P V Narasimha Rao: homage to a great Indian statesman

By Sunil Dhavala

These days, in a blink of an eye many entrepreneurs are born, startups and companies are incorporated. Job-hopping nowadays is not uncommon in India. Micro-lending is available in a jiffy. Technology progresses in a flash, and international brands and products set foot in India at the drop of a hat. Mushrooming of malls and multiplexes has changed the way Indians live, and spend time and money. Technology, disruption, and innovation are the new punk rock. But...

India Gujarat Elections

In victory, BJP smells defeat, while Congress tastes an opportunity

By Darshan Desai

World

United Kingdom Brexit

West goes back to the future, apart from Brexit Britain

By Richard Cook

As a new year approaches, there seems little for the West to cheer about. Parts of Europe look to be facing economic turmoil, while the United Kingdom is divisively and emotively split between pro and anti Europeans. The United States is also damagingly divided along...

Middle East Palestine

Exiled Fatah leader Dahlan planning political comeback

By Sami Moubayed

Politics Alberto Fujimori

Peru’s Asian dynasty pulling strings in the background

By David DeVoss

Former dictator Fujimori pardoned; will the son and daughter also rise?

East Asia Leadership

How Asia’s ‘people of the year’ muddled through in 2017

By David Simmons

Since Charles Lindbergh was named Time magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1927, the annual honor has evolved with, some would say, societal progress or, others would say, the publication’s wish to be seen as politically correct (and sell subscriptions from newly empowered groups,...

United States strategy Analysis

Trump offers a daring program to restore US dominance

By David P. Goldman

US President proposes a muscular kind of global activism, fostering new alliances while reinforcing America’s existing commitments; plus a layered missile defence shield

Trump’s grandstanding on national security could end in tragedy

By M.K. Bhadrakumar

United States Politics

Obama warns of dangers of ‘irresponsible’ internet use

By Asia Times staff

Barack Obama appeared to have Donald Trump in his sights when he issued a warning against the irresponsible use of social media. In a rare interview since he left the White House in January, the former United States President seemed to be referring to his...

Europe Catalan

Catalan elections: the ghosts that won’t go away

By Spengler

Nationalism is an idea whose time has come, gone, and come back again

United States Turkey

Plenty of spice in New York trial Erdogan wishes would go away

By Sami Moubayed

Middle East Christmas

Christmas lights re-appear after dark years for Syria’s Christians

By Sami Moubayed

Christians are found among the dead, wounded, and displaced in Syria, sharing a plight of misery with Muslims. But Christmas 2017 finds a renewal of hope among a minority community with a deep sense of belonging to its war-torn home

Business and Finance

economics interest rates

How Asia reached a monetary turning point in 2017

By William Pesek

While the Federal Reserve got all the headlines, Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol arguably pulled off 2017’s most important monetary maneuver. Asia’s economies have long been living on borrowed economic time, as central banks have held interest rates low to gin up growth. Look...

Markets Stock Markets

Gravity check for Asian stocks in 2018

By William Pesek

Bitcoin got all the headlines, but Asia’s stock markets also did plenty in 2017 to defy gravity. Unlike the cryptocurrency boom, Asia’s equity rally is underpinned by a reasonably persuasive argument. Asia, after all, generally has what the West lacks: buoyant growth, swelling middle-class consumer...

Business Northeast Asia

Nikkei’s 2017 rally papers over missing link: wage growth

By William Pesek

If we can discern a “Trump Doctrine” one year in, it’s that a surging stock market absolves all manner of sins. As Russia probes heat up, indictments fly and Donald Trump’s policies irk the global community, the president points to the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s...

Finance Cryptocurrencies

Who has been driving the crypto boom? Individuals in Asia

By Martin J. Young

Despite a backlash from some regional governments, Asian retail traders continue to drive demand

Technology United States Opinion

Tech stars of tomorrow blocked by the giants of today

By Henry Kressel

It's one of the big mysteries about startups. The number of new jobs created by companies less than a year old has declined from 4.1 million in 1994 to 3 million in 2015, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. With so much new technology...

Southeast Asia Business

Southeast Asia is patently behind in world markets

By Alan Boyd

Despite high patent and intellectual property filings, no regional company or product has a leading global position

Alibaba Group China

Good luck with those 40-year Alibaba bonds

By William Pesek

Chief among things to consider is the political risk hovering over Jack Ma’s e-commerce juggernaut

Japan Bitcoin

How Bitcoin can save the world from deflation

By William Pesek

Business Property

What’s hot, what’s not in Asian real estate

By Alan Boyd

Culture and Living

Culture Books

Video games on a psychoanalyst’s couch

By Nile Bowie

The new book "The Playstation Dreamworld" critiques technology and capitalism through the growing role gaming plays in modern life

Culture Sport

Runners and riders: assessing Asian World Cup prospects

By John Duerden

India Film

Bollywood captures the good, the bad and the indifferent

By Suprateek Chatterjee

It was not a stellar year for India's Hindi film industry but the stars still shone on the silver screen

Philosophy existentialism

In an age of Hollow Men and existential angst, re-read Sartre

By Pepe Escobar

As the geopolitical chessboard continues to be tossed around by ill winds, an exhausted West wallows in the mire of its own failings, and the planet faces a mounting existential crisis, we might do worse than to pause and reflect on how one of the great minds of a previous generation might help us make sense of these times of trouble. Jean-Paul Sartre was one of the last towering giants of a Renaissance pantheon concerned...

Culture Food

Thai and rising: former HK nanny helping to spice up the UK

By Richard Cook

Saiphin Moore, who comes from Thailand and once worked as a domestic helper in Hong Kong, has just had her UK restaurant group valued at more than US$30 million

Culture K-Pop

Tributes pour in as fans mourn death of K-pop idol Jonghyun

By Asia Times staff

A new era for Cambodian culture and cuisine in Long Beach

By Charley Lanyon

Cambodia Town in Southern California's Long Beach was born from the tragedy of war and genocide. Now, starting with food, a new generation of its inhabitants are determined to put their culture on the map

Culture Food

Phoque Tales: Brexit-weary London gets taste of French Hong Kong

By L.K. Morgan

Culture Censorship

Vietnam gets a softer kind of censorship

By Zoe Osborne

First state-approved nude photography exhibit was a watershed moment in gradual easing of control on certain art forms

Culture Business

VR: the future of adult entertainment?

By Liu Hsiu Wen

Ayaka Hahn, CEO and co-founder of Imagine VR, and Michelle Flynn, director and owner of Lightsouthern, talk about the possibilities of VR in adult entertainment